Cambio climático global en el contexto de la ecorregión subantártica de Magallanes y la reserva de biósfera Cabo de Hornos

the consequences and causes of global climate change are not homogeneous in the diverse regions of the planet, and its impacts are not only ecological, but also economic, political, and ethical. in this context, the sub-antarctic magellanic ecoregion and the ethical dimensions represent two aspects that require more attention from the scientific community. the frst has biological and cultural singularities that contrast with subpolar regions of the northern hemisphere, and need to be given greater consideration to effectively confront the challenges of global environmental change. the second requires more in depth studies for at least two reasons: a) the ultimate causes of global climate change derive from the type of relationship established by industrial society with the natural world, a type of relationship that has become increasingly prevailing since the mid-20th century; b) the question about we should act in the face of global change involves ethical questions. in this context, the international colloquium on global climate change in the region of magallanes and antarctica: evidences and future challenges, organized by the university of magallanes and chilean antarctic institute in october 2009, opens new opportunities for long-term socio-ecological research and monitoring of global environmental change at a planetary scale. to contribute to the consolidation n of these initiatives we concisely present the main attributes of magellanic sub-antarctic ecoregion, and of the sub-antarctic biocultural conservation pro-gram coordinated by umag, the institute of ecology and biodiversity and the university of north texas, which integrates ecological and ethical dimensions in the analyses of socio-ecological processes at local, regional, national, and international scales.